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Sonic the hedghog
:: Story :: While cruising over the ocean in his antique biplane, the Tornado, Sonic notices a small island particularly lush with greenery. He flies down for a bit of vacation time, closely followed by an unseen figure that lands on the opposite end of the island... The tiny resort turns out to be West Side Island, which, as the folklore goes, was once the home of a flourishing civilization. The people of the island utilized the power of seven mysterious stones for the advancement of their society. However, their prosperity lead to avarice, which did not sit well with the gods. The displeased deities reclaimed the stones and sealed them away. After a few days on the island, it occurs to Sonic that he's being followed. His pursuer is a young fox with two tails who, upon being discovered, dashes into the shade of a nearby tree. Sonic ignores him and zooms off, but the fox whirls his two tails like a propeller and follows the blue stranger at full speed. Sonic is impressed both with the fox's tenacity and his ability to keep up, so he decides to let him tag along. He learns that his new companion is named Miles Prower, though the animals of the island call him "Tails" after his unique mutation. Early one afternoon, Tails discovers the Tornado sitting on a beach. Being fascinated by all things mechanical, the young fox eagerly runs up to the machine for a thorough investigation, but shyly pulls back when he spots Sonic snoozing in the shade of a wing. His awkward moment is interrupted by a huge explosion from the island's interior. Sonic snaps up to see the forest ablaze and robots scouring the area. It doesn't take the blue hero three guesses to figure out who's behind the disruption: Dr. Eggman, who had discreetly followed Sonic onto West Side Island, is now tearing the place apart in search of the seven Chaos Emeralds. He needs fuel for his Death Egg, a planet-sized space station with unthinkable power. Sonic and Tails take off to locate the Emeralds before Eggman and squash his evil ambition once more. ---- :: Gameplay Info :: Sonic's first major sequel doesn't mess with the perfection the original achieved in terms of mechanics, so for a detailed examination of the fundamentals, skip over to the Sonic 1 page. The actual structure has changed a bit, not for the better by the reckoning of most fans, but the tweaks aren't drastic enough to alter the experience. Sonic's faster yet this time around, and the level design caters more to high speeds than platform-jumping obstacles. Most significant of the new features is the introduction of Miles "Tails" Prower, Sonic's little buddy with the mechanical knack. In a normal game, Tails follows Sonic around and isn't good for much more than showing off the Mega Drive's processing power. He'll grab an extra Ring for you here and there, but other than that, he's just around to look pretty. If he gets on your nerves, you can always go into the options and choose to play as Sonic alone or Tails alone, but the only difference between the two characters is visual. (Tails can fly when he's following Sonic, but when you're in direct control, there will be no aerial antics.) The list of basic interactive items hasn't changed much. The giant Rings are gone as are the hidden end-of-stage bonus points, but everything else is as it was the first time around. (Note that Continues are no longer earned from Special Stages, but can be acquired by racking up a score of 10,000.) Eggman's got a new menagerie of robotic beasts to get in Sonic's way. Fortunately, they're as shoddily constructed as ever, because it still takes only one spin to destroy the machine and free the helpless animal trapped inside. As with Sonic 1, each busted bot is worth 100 points, but the score multiplies with each enemy destroyed in a single spin: 200 for two, 500 for three, and 1,000 points for each one thereafter. There are twice as many stages this time, but they're not as long as they used to be. Except for Metropolis, each Zone is comprised of only 2 rounds with the boss encounter at the end of the second. At the end of each Act, bonus points are awarded based on Rings and time remaining. If you manage to collect every single blessed Ring in the entire stage and make it across the bonus plate without losing a single one, your inhuman efforts are rewarded with a 50,000 point Perfect Bonus. Bosses, as usual, take 8 hits to defeat and serve up a 1,000 point bonus. The game has a total of three different endings: Sonic's ending, Tails' ending, and Super Sonic's ending. Clear the game sans any or all of the Chaos Emeralds to view Sonic's ending. Tails will get the same ending whether he's got all 7 Emeralds or not. Super Sonic's ending can only be accessed by clearing the game as Sonic with all 7 Emeralds. The miraculous gems, once again, can be procured through Special Stages. To enter a Special Stage, cross a Point Marker with at least 50 Rings in the bank. A rotating ring of red sparkles will appear for a short period of time above the post: leap in and it's off to Emerald land. Sonic and Tails (or just Sonic, or just Tails) run through a pseudo-3D half pipe. Move left or right to scoot up the sides of the tube or loop through the air. Press A, B, or C to jump. Scattered around the pipe are Rings and bombs. The object is to collect the requisite amount of Rings to cross each Check Gate (チェックゲート) while avoiding bombs, which subtract Rings from your total. Clear 3 rounds of Ring grabbing to be rewarded with a Chaos Emerald. Collect all seven Chaos Emeralds as Sonic and you earn the ability to transform into Super Sonic. Collect 50 Rings and leap in the air to do the transformation thang, where you change from a mild-mannered blue hedgehog into a blazing yellow speed demon faster than a speeding bullet and capable of leaping tall Eggmen in a single bound. As Super Sonic, you are faster, able to jump higher, and invulnerable to all attacks except getting squished or falling off the screen. The catch is that you are also a Ring guzzler. You need 50 Rings to transform, and once you do, the Rings are juiced out of your tally one by one. Keep a steady supply coming in, because if the count hits zero, it's back to plain blue Sonic. Grab a homie and hit up the new versus mode to race for points in one of 4 courses. When one player reaches the end of the Act, the other player has 60 seconds to reach the exit before being disqualified. When both players have reached the goal, the score is tallied up based on the following criteria: points, time, Rings on hand, total Rings and Item Boxes. The winner of the race is the player who has won the majority of these five categories. The 2-player stages include Emerald Hill, Casino Night, Mystic Cave, and a Special Stage. Item Boxes contain a special assortment of goods: *High Speed (ハイスピード) -- Temporary speed increase *Sonic Mark (ソニックマク) -- Sonic gets a 1up, regardless of who opens the Item Box *Miles Mark (マイルスマク) -- Tails gets a 1up, regardless of who opens the Item Box *Muteki (無敵) -- Temporary invincibility *Big 10 Ring (ビッグ10リング) -- Worth 10 Rings *Barrier (バリア) -- Absorbs 1 hit *Eggman Mark (エッグマンマク) -- Inflicts damage *Teleportation (テレポテーション) -- Both players switch places. Any power-ups you may be carrying (Barriers and invincibility) are transferred to your opponent. In the main options menu, you can choose to play with Teleportation boxes exclusively. ---- :: Comparison :: In the late 80's and early 90's, Sega Europe released a modified version of the Master System and Mega Drive hardware for use in arcades. The multi-cart system was known as Mega-Tech, and the JAMMA version (Mega Drive only) as Mega Play. The motherboard could host up to eight cartridges at a time, from which players could choose whatever they wanted to play. Among the supported games available for both Mega-Tech and Mega Play were Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The Mega-Tech version of Sonic 2 is mostly identical to the European Mega Drive version. The only big difference is that there's an ever-present countdown restricting your play time. You get an additional 3 minutes for each coin you insert. The Mega Play version, unlike the MP version of Sonic 1, is also nearly identical to its Mega Drive counterpart. The only major changes are the exclusion of Special Stages and, interestingly, the timer. There are no extra lives: 1up Item Boxes are replaced with Big 10 Rings, and no matter how many Rings you've got when you cross a Point Marker, that comforting ring of stars shan't appear. There's no options menu at the title screen, just the normal 1 player game as Sonic & Tails. Unlike the spliced Mega Play version of Sonic 1, Sonic 2 contains all its Zones and bosses, plus the usual ending and credit roll (you automatically get the good Super Sonic ending). Oddly, there is no high score screen. On June 7, 2006, Panasonic launched its FOMA P902iS line of mobile phones in Japan. This model features a port of Sonic 2 pre-installed in each unit. As with the mobile version of Sonic 1, a Stage Select option allows players to start the game at any previously accessed Zone while high scores are automatically uploaded to a national ranking. Several months after the 902 launch, a second version of the game was released for the 903 series. The 903 version features a graphically enhanced title screen and a new Attack Mode, an endurance game of successive Special Stages or boss fights. ---- :: Lost in Translation :: Sonic 2 was developed in the US by Sega Technical Institute and released around the world almost simultaneously, so there are no significant differences between international versions. The only notable change is how Tails' name is displayed in the various menus. In the Japanese version, he's referred to as "Miles" while in the US and European versions, he's simply "Tails." Note that whichever is the default, it can be changed by activating the code listed below. ---- :: Codes ::14 Continues: Go to the Sound Test and play the following tracks in this order: 1, 1, 2, 4. (November 24 was "Sonic Twosday," the game's US release date.) Now highlight the "Player Select" option, and press start. You will begin the game with the maximum of 14 continues. Change "Miles" to "Tails": The character box where your remaining lives are displayed normally reads "Miles" when playing as Tails. It can be changed to read "Tails" by inputting the following sequence at the title screen: . You should hear a Ring chime. (Note that in the US and European versions, the character box reads "Tails" by default, and this code changes it to "Miles.") Level Select: Go to the Sound Test and play the following tracks in this order: 19, 65, 09, 17. (September 17, 1965 was Yuji Naka's birthday.) You should hear a Ring chime. Go back to the title screen, then hold down A''' and press '''START. Debug Mode: Activate the level select code. Go to the new Sound Test and play the following tracks in this order: 1, 9, 9, 2, 1, 1, 2, 4. (November 24, 1992 was "Sonic Twosday," the game's US release date.) Now, hold down A''' and select your level. Press a button to begin construction: A = Changes highlighted item B = Toggles between items and Sonic C = Places highlighted item '''Auto Super Sonic: Activate the level select code. At the new Sound Test, play the following tracks in this order: 4, 1, 2, 6. You should hear the Chaos Emerald sound effect. You now have all seven Chaos Emeralds and are able to transform into Super Sonic. ---- :: Behind the Screens :: Despite the success of Sonic 1, not all were happy within the Sonic Team studio. Lead programmer Yuji Naka, frustrated over Sega's seniority-based salary policy, left the company. Mark Cerny, product manager at Sega of America and a personal friend of Naka's, convinced the apostate programmer to fly over to the states and join the newly established Sega Technical Institute. Cerny had founded STI as a sort of training ground where Sega's green American developers could learn tricks of the trade from the more experienced Japanese staff. The division was cofounded by Sonic 1 director Hirokazu Yasuhara who was already in place at the new studio. With two of the most influential Sonic 1 developers in his camp, Cerny proposed a Sonic sequel to the company executives. The initial response was a no, as Sega felt it was too early for a sequel to a game that was still pulling in big money at retail. However, just as Cerny and co had begun working on an unrelated project, Sega turned around and requested that the Sonic sequel be developed after all. STI thus began development of Sonic 2 two months behind schedule. As with the creation of Sonic himself, an internal competition was held to come up with a new sidekick character. The most popular entry was Yasushi Yamaguchi's sketch of a young two-tailed fox. Yamaguchi really wanted his character to be called Miles, but he was overruled and Sonic's new buddy ended up as "Tails". Discontent, Yamaguchi sneaked the name "Miles" into much of the game's background art and in the end he won a compromise: Sonic's aspiring young friend was officially named Miles "Tails" Prower ("Tails" being the character's nickname). ----